Chapter 69 - Little Zhang Reached the Top of the Literature Channel! (1/2)

Sat.u.r.day.

There were only a few people who came to work.

Zhang Ye was one of them. As he had rested from Wednesday all the way to today, he definitely needed to work overtime. However, his colleagues had worked overtime last week, so they were on break now.

The telephone in the office rang.

Zhang Ye noticed that a few editors and clerks were busy, so he picked up the phone, “h.e.l.lo. How are you? This is the Literature Channel.”

“Little Zhang, right? I’m Zhao Guozhou.” The phone call was from Director Zhao, “I was just looking for you. Come over to my office.”

“Alright.” Zhang Ye went over the moment he put down the phone. He knocked on the Director’s office door. Zhao Guozhou was reading the listeners.h.i.+p ratings table inside, “Are you looking for me?”

“Here, take a seat.” Zhao Guozhou lowered his hand. “Take a look for yourself.”

Zhang Ye sat down and looked at the form that was pa.s.sed into his hand. It was the ratings rankings for Friday. “Late-night Ghost Stories” had dropped back down to 1.9+%. Clearly, it had lost momentum. It would be difficult for it to go higher. After all, it was a late-night segment that had a limited audience. This was nothing to be surprised about, but the listeners.h.i.+p rating for “Old and Young Story Club” made Zhang Ye pleasantly surprised. It had increased once again!

Its listeners.h.i.+p rating was 3.31%.

And at first place, “Talk About the World” only had a 3.63% listeners.h.i.+p rating.

One had dropped, while the other had risen. The gap between the two segments had once again narrowed!

This was something that had never happened before. No one had managed to force the number one girl, w.a.n.g Xiaomei’s, segment to such a dire point!

To see Zhao Guozhou say, “Maybe it was because many students were having a school holiday on Friday afternoon, but your segment’s numbers have once again sharply increased. Even the station’s management has been startled. Beautifully done, Little Zhang. I knew I didn’t make a mistake with you.” Following that, he said, “I saw the segment chart for today, just now. The program after yours at 1 P.M. is ‘Weekend Laughing Forest’. This program should be no stranger to you. Typically, it doesn’t have an anchorman; it just broadcasts some skits or cross talk that we bought the copyrights to. However, as skits and cross talks are slowly deteriorating, as there are too few good works, we have been broadcasting the same skits over the past few weeks for ‘Weekend Laughing Forest’. It has lost a lot of its audience, and has also been greatly criticized. Hence, for this weekend, I’m thinking of temporarily halting ‘Weekend Laughing Forest’, and handing you the time period from 1 P.M. to 2 P.M.”

Zhang Ye said, “Is that alright?”

“It’s only for this weekend. Can your story keep up?” Zhao Guozhou asked.

“There’s no problem on my side. If I’m given a total of four hours for today and tomorrow for my broadcast, I can definitely finish ‘The Wizard of Oz’ this weekend.” Zhang Ye said.

Zhao Guozhou tapped the table as he thought, “Alright. Then, let’s do it. This opportunity is yours, so it’s up to you to grab the opportunity well.”

Zhang Ye promised, “Thank you, Leader. I will do my best!”

Zhao Guozhou said, “Go to the recording studio and get it done as soon as possible.”

Walking into Recording Studio #4, Zhang Ye felt his body full of energy again. It felt like he had inexhaustible strength, so he quickly got down to recording the segment for the weekend. This was a great opportunity. He had also seen a glimmer of hope of surpa.s.sing w.a.n.g Xiaomei for the first time. Although he knew that it was still very difficult, and was almost unrealistic, Zhang Ye still wanted to fight for it. He wanted to do it for his records of service, for a chance at grabbing one of the Silver Microphone Awards and for him to be able to enter the television station!

The recording began.

“h.e.l.lo, everyone. Today’s program will have some temporary adjustments. ‘Old and Young Story Club’ will be broadcast from 12 noon to 2 P.M., so please do not change the channel. After it ends at 1 P.M., there will be a short advertis.e.m.e.nt before ‘The Wizard of Oz’ carries on its broadcast. And this weekend, ‘The Wizard of Oz’ will also come to its end. I hope that everyone will listen to it punctually.” After adding these words, Zhang Ye began recording.

Working until the afternoon, he finally managed to finish recording “The Wizard of Oz”.

After he came out, he wanted to look for Zhao Guozhou, so that he could ask about the listeners.h.i.+p ratings; however, he could not find him. The Leader had gotten off work, so he could not do anything but wait until Monday.

He had a day off on Sunday.

The listeners.h.i.+p ratings were not out and the announcement was delayed.

Monday.

Today seemed to be the day that was destined to be enshrined in the Literature Channel’s historical annals.

After Zhang Ye got off the subway, he met w.a.n.g Xiaomei, who had been recognized by two male fans, in front of the station platform. Teacher Xiaomei was giving the fans her signature.

“Thank you, Teacher Xiaomei.”

“You’re welcome. Is that all?”

“Can we get a picture together? I really like your ‘Talk About the World’!”

“Next time. I came to work late today, so I’m running late.”

Seeing w.a.n.g Xiaomei cross the road, Zhang Ye also walked up to her, “Teacher w.a.n.g.”

w.a.n.g Xiaomei turned at look at him and acknowledged tersely, “I heard your program’s listeners.h.i.+p rating on Friday had increased once again? 3.31%, right? It’s very good.”

Zhang Ye said, “There are more children resting on Friday, so it went up.”

w.a.n.g Xiaomei said, “Aren’t there even more resting on Sat.u.r.day? Also, parents do not need to work.”

“Uh, I don’t know. It’s of course good if it can increase a bit more.” Zhang Ye said nonchalantly.

However, w.a.n.g Xiaomei said, “Work hard, then. It’s not that easy to surpa.s.s my listeners.h.i.+p ratings.” Her tone sounded a bit p.r.i.c.kly. She left after she finished speaking.

Zhang Ye smiled bitterly.

At the unit’s office, today’s atmosphere felt particularly weird.

“Did you hear? The rating for ‘Old and Young Story Club’ on Friday was 3.31%!”

“I knew about it the day before yesterday. It’s really such an exaggeration!”

“Say, do you think Teacher Little Zhang will really reach the top of our channel?”